


Binary Sunset

by AceQueenKing



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Darth Vader Redemption, Family Drama, Gen, Misunderstandings, Non-Graphic Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-06
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2019-01-08 22:19:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12263190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceQueenKing/pseuds/AceQueenKing
Summary: When Vader looked at his son, he saw what was.When Luke looks at his father, he sees what is.When Leia looks at what her father is and what her brother could be, she is afraid.





	Binary Sunset

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ancslove](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ancslove/gifts).



When the father sees his son, he sees the ghost of what once was. His blonde hair, dark with sweat; the mother's nose, scrunched up in pain as the torturer drives the needle through his skin again. His eyes, bloodshot and tired; the mother's pale, soft mouth, bitten in the way she always did when worried.

"Your friends," the Inquisitor says, his tone clipped, high. Coruscanti, Vader thinks; had he been in the crèche, at the end? Impossible to know. Luke replies in far-less measured tones, writhing in pain and grunting in course Huttese. 

The Emperor has ordered the torture, and the father is powerless to stop it. Palpatine is well aware of his weaknesses, as he has always been; now, Vader knows, this defect has passed on to his son. Palpatine knows all too well that Luke’s love of others is his weakness, as it was Vader’s own. Vader is all too aware his master’s order to stand at this door is meant as punishment as much as it is a warning.

Luke yells in pain, and Vader feels the echoes of it in the force. Palpatine no doubt does as well and is no doubt _pleased_.

But Vader feels nothing but pain, as he has always felt. He places a hand on the door and wills Luke to survive. He presses the cold dura-steel of the helmet against the door, and it gives no comfort, but Luke’s eyes lock onto his own.

And somehow, Vader still sees mercy. His son’s eyes lock on dark dura-steel that reveals nothing of his inner turmoil and Luke, somehow, still shows not hatred but kindness. His hands clench deep into the metal of the cell’s door, leaving deep cracks.

Luke will not break. And Vader knows what he must do.

\---

When Luke sees his father enter the door, relief rolls off of him in tight waves. His father is here and, whether Luke is right or wrong about him, things will soon come to an end. And at this point, Luke, captured six hours ago by an unlucky squadron has finally come face to face with the man he wanted to find in the first place.

“My Lord!” The Inquisitor says, his face turning pale. Luke breathes deep. Vader’s focus is on Luke, all on him, and he gently grabs Luke’s still sore arm and for a moment all Luke can focus on is the Vader’s respirator.

“Leave us,” his father says to the Inquisitor. A cool feeling floods through Luke’s arm, and he sucks in a painful breath, unexpected by the bacta-cool touch. The heat and fire of the chemical in his bones vanishes.

“M-my Lord? The Emperor has ordered – “ The man isn’t allowed to finish his sentence as Vader’s attention whips down to him and Luke almost pities him. Vader’s hand flexes subtly on his arm, so subtly he isn’t sure the Inquisitor even sees it.

“The Emperor has changed his plans. Return to your station.” Vader offers no reason, and the Inquisitor swallows, then leaves.  
  
The soft click of the door sliding shut is deafening.

They stare at one another a moment; Vader emits nothing in the force, but then he says “ _Son_ ,” and Luke sees both sides him in the light; the father he lost, the father he has gained.

“Father,” he says. Vader nods, briskly, and raises his fingers. Luke’s restraints drop to the ground and he rubs his sore wrist. Vader places one thick hand on his shoulder and Luke understands what he wants him to do.

“Can you stand?” Vader asks. Luke nods, and Vader grabs his hand, pulling him along.

“Where are we going?” Luke asks, his heart beating fast.

 _Somewhere safer,_ Vader’s voice whispers in his heart, and Luke has to look down to avoid smiling at the joy of being right. _And we must hurry. The Emperor is unforgiving._

It’s an odd feeling, but Luke Skywalker actually feels _relieved_ while being dragged around the Endor base, and he can’t even say that he minds.

\--

When Leia sees Luke at last, her feelings are complicated. First, she feels relief; Luke is _alive_. The raw nerve of hope that is Luke scares her sometimes, the way he throws himself into any situation. Luke is the idealist of their duo, the one who has never given up hope for a better universe. Then she sees the dark shadow pulling him along, and the hope in her chest twists into despair.

Leia Organa is a good gambler, and she would bet anything that Vader can break Luke’s idealism. Luke had told her his secret – their secret – mere hours before. He had told her he was leaving to talk to Vader, that he would be captured by Imperials and distract Vader from their mission. She had been stunned enough to let him go, but stubborn enough to follow.

After all, how can Leia go through with the assault on another Death Star without her twin by her side? They are binary suns.

He has been her other half for longer than she has known. They have always been stars, orbiting one another. She is the realistic sun that burns for his faith; he, the cool moon that kept her believing they were making a difference, that the murder and blood they shed was for a greater purpose.

She cannot, _will not_ , lose him. They have lost too much already.

Leia aims her gun high and sets her sights on her long-unknown birth father. When Leia sees him, she sees only one thing: an enemy trying to hurt her brother and that is the one thing she won’t let happen. She aims for a kill shot, and she aims straight and true.


End file.
